In a lengthy, 10-bout fightcard, Chan Rothana exacted his revenge on bitter rival Sam Ang Dung in a first round knockout that drove the crowd at Koh Pich Theatre wild.
ONE Championship, one of the biggest mixed martial arts organizations in Asia, made its heralded return to Phnom Penh Saturday night with its ‘ONE: Kingdom of Khmer’ fightcard, featuring a number of Cambodia’s most experienced fighters.
In ‘ONE: Rise of the Kingdom’, their first fight series in Phnom Penh last year, Rothana was controversially disqualified for an alleged head stomp of Ang Dung despite dominating him for most of the match.
The highly publicized rematch lived up to the hype, with Rothana and Ang Dung trading vicious blows before taking things to the ground. Ang Dung seemed to have the upper hand after slamming Rothana to the mat and grappling for more than 30 seconds, but Rothana managed to flip Ang Dung over and hit him with a devastating blow to the face, knocking him out cold.
The main event was an underwhelming battle between American Lowen Tynanes and Russian Rasul Yakhyaev, which ended in the third round after Tynanes managed to subdue the Russian with a rear naked chokehold.
Malaysia-native Gianni Subba took down Thai karate champion Anatpong Bunrad in the night’s most kick-heavy bout. Subba and Bunrad traded devastating kick after devastating kick, but Subba was able to batter Bunrad with a series of punches and elbows. The two experienced flyweights went three rounds without ever taking things to the ground, giving fans a respite from the rest of the grapple-heavy matches. Subba managed to take the match in a split decision.
Local legend Chan Heng was put down in the fastest TKO in ONE history. Indonesian Muay Thai fighter Mario Satya Wirawan landed a brutal blow to Heng’s head, knocking down the veteran Kun Khmer fighter before a devastating kick to the head forced the referee to end the fight after only 6 seconds.
In the night’s most exciting match, crowd-favorite Tharoth “Little Frog” Sam and Indian Jeet Toshi went toe to toe for all three rounds, fighting until both could barely muster the energy to throw another punch. The two spent the first round battling on the ground, pounding each other with a variety of punches and kicks. Toshi almost ended the match with a series of hits to the face and an arm bar, but the slippery Sam fought her way out of it and managed to keep the fight going.
In the second round, the plucky Sam had the crowd on her side, pummeling Toshi with leg kicks while grappling with her on the ground. The third round saw both exhausted fighters barely able to fight anymore, but Toshi managed to straddle Sam and pummel her with a seemingly endless barrage of blows to the face.
Despite the continued pounding, the Banteay Meanchey-native never tapped out, and although she lost the fight in a decision, the crowd gave her a rousing ovation for her resilience.
Additional Reporting by Ismail Vorajee